“Sorry Odisha! We Are Not Interested” Said Foreign Tourists; A Big Blow To Odisha Tourism

2 min

Yes, the things written above is absolutely true to it’s nature. One thing goes up and another thing goes down! Odisha got 1lakh+ crore in Make In Odisha and got less than 1% tourism visit. Despite being blessed with a rich cultural heritage of old world charms and the unspoiled beaches, sprawling lakes, luxuriant forests, teeming wildlife and the superb monuments, Odisha Tourism is in it’s hard time in attracting foreign tourists.

Odisha receives less than 1% of foreign tourists of India

It’s always said that there is always two sides of a story but in case of Odisha Tourism, multiple factors are in play. Few infamous incidents has brought Odisha Tourism to it’s knees and on top of everything comes our not so friendly behavior with or in front of our foreign guests. If you have seen the “Incredible India” ad campaign by Amir Khan, you will surely understand where we are lacking.

The downfall of Odisha Tourism started with the infamous 2012 kidnapping of an Italian tourist by Maoists. After this incident even several countries issued a travel advisory and asked tourists to come to Odisha at their own risk. Then Odisha banned tribal tourism in interior areas and made another let-down for Odisha Tourism causing a massive drop in foreign tourists.

“In 2014, almost 77 lakh foreign tourists visited India out of which only 71,426 had come to Odisha. In 2015, foreign tourists’ inflow to India had increased to 80 lakhs but the number of visitors to Odisha had significantly dropped to 66,971.”

As per the report of TOI “Industry experts says safety and security issues, lack of basic infrastructure and poor communication are among the main reasons for the drop in the inflow of foreign tourists to the state”. With the same rate if Odisha continues to receive such poor number of tourists, Odisha Tourism might have to change it’s name to Odisha Says No To Tourism.